There’s nothing as enjoyable as having a good long stretch and yawn after a hard day’s work. And the pleasures of stretching needn’t be limited to the physical realm. At work, you can stretch your mind by looking for creative solutions, being proactive about developing tasks that really interest you and interacting as much as possible with your coworkers and, during breaks, with other friends and acquaintances.

Though fun, stretching is not always easy. Many office workers end up a crumpled, dispirited heap, gazing listlessly at their computer screens without any idea of what to do. It’s almost as if they’re just waiting to get fired. So how do you avoid this and become an alert and excited person instead?

In this summary of Stretch by Karie Willyerd, Barbara Mistick, we’ll explore

• how to remain open and motivated in the workplace;
• how to multiply career options and opportunities; and
• how to bounce back strong after a career setback.

Before entering the professional world, you are surrounded by parents and teachers who can point you in the right direction and straighten you out if you get off track. But after college, you’re more or less on your own, even though there’s still a great deal of growing, or stretching, that needs to be done.

That’s why there are three stretch imperatives that every professional hoping to stay at the top of the game should keep in mind.

The first stretch imperative is to remember that you are in control.

If you’re unhappy with a job, it can be easy to blame your boss or be too lazy to do anything about it. But this isn’t good for you or your employer.

Let’s look at a typical career: You graduate from college and decide to pick up a job in construction because you thought you might enjoy working with your hands. But after a while you realize that you’d rather work with people. What do you do?

You take control and find another job, this time as a camp counselor. But here you realize you’d rather work with adults instead of kids, so you decide to work in sales instead.

And this leads us to the second stretch imperative: Give yourself options and broaden your horizons so that you have a healthy amount of possible opportunities.

Let’s say you hate your boss in the sales department but you don’t have the qualifications for anything else. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, you take action. You sign up for adult education classes and earn a second or third degree, such as an MBA.

And this brings us to the third stretch imperative: Setting goals.

These don’t have to be related to your career; they just need to be realistic goals that will help you stay on track, especially during tough times.

Everyone hits a rough patch at one point or another in their career. When you hit one, remember that gaining experiences is always productive and will help you in the search for what’s right for you.

If you’ve worked at enough office jobs, then you’re surely familiar with the unhappy employee who dozes off at his desk, despite a veritable drip feed of caffeine.

No one wants to be this employee. In fact, the best kind of employee is the polar opposite of dissatisfied and slumberous. She’s alert and engaged, learning on the job and continuing to develop her skill set.

If you have a full-time job, then you know how hard it can be to continue your education in the small amount of spare time you do have. That’s why you must learn on the job.

Let’s look at Jonah, who got a job as a teacher, but began to worry after realizing how difficult his work really was. He knew he needed to improve, but he had no time to get more training. So he took matters into his own hands.

Jonah performed a self-assessment and realized that he needed to be more organized, so he began interviewing other teachers on how he could better structure his class.

He also recognized that too much class time was spent with him talking, and that students learned more when they had time to practice. So he shortened his lectures and created more practical exercises that allowed his students to develop their skills.

The results were great: Jonah is now training other teachers and on track to becoming the next school principal.

The key is that Jonah was open to change and feedback, a quality that is essential to keeping yourself from getting stuck in a career rut.

Chris, a frustrated executive trainer who was having trouble connecting with his trainees, is another good example of the benefits of openness.

Despite the trouble he was having, Chris remained open with his boss and receptive to the feedback he received.

This allowed Chris and his boss to work together and pinpoint the problem. Eventually it became clear that Chris wasn’t listening to his trainees. He’d developed a habit of criticizing their ideas before they could fully explain themselves.

By being open to change and feedback, Chris learned that being a leader isn’t about him – it’s about being part of a team. And once he began listening to his team members, his leadership skills greatly improved.

It’s generally a good idea to give yourself options. Most people don’t apply to only one college or send out applications to only one job. They put their eggs in multiple baskets.

Use the same approach for your career and increase your options by utilizing a broad network of contacts.

Everyone has at least two different kinds of contacts: professional colleagues and personal friends. Both can be used to provide more options as your career progresses.

For example, Zach started out in a marketing company, working day and night and never taking the time to develop a social life or expand his contact list. And when Zach decided to strike out on his own, he was working even longer hours, but still not giving any attention to his contacts – even though he was growing quite concerned about his lack of clients.

Luckily he had one good personal contact – his dad, who was an experienced entrepreneur and recognized his problem right away. He explained to Zack the importance of having good contacts, especially in the world of sales.

Sure enough, after focusing on his network and sharpening his social skills, Zach’s company began to thrive.

Another way to increase your career options is to collect a variety of experiences.

You may not have a clear idea of what you want to do with your life, so why not try a number of different jobs and discover what’s out there?

Alexandra did exactly this after earning a graduate degree in international relations and feeling disillusioned after working for a financial service company during the 2008 economic crisis.

As Alexandra began to reflect on what she wanted to do with her life, she realized she had a real passion for nature and conservation. She was drawn to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, and began reaching out to people from the organization and adding them to her network.

Those within Lewa recognized that Alexandra’s experience in finance and international relations could be a great benefit, so they hired her as an international-development manager.

And with Lewa on her résumé, Alexandra was able to add nature conservation to her growing list of experiences.

When your career hits rock bottom, one of two things can happen to it: it can either shatter like a glass or bounce back to new heights like a rubber ball.

With the right frame of mind, you can turn a career setback into the start of a new chapter.

If you lose your job, there’s no reason to give up – especially if you have your network in place and remember that you’re still in control. So keep in mind that any setback can be an opportunity to gain experiences and propel forward movement.

Even when things look bleak, you can come soaring back. All it takes is the right amount of positive determination.

When journalist Jill Abramson was run over by a truck in New York City, she had to face an enormous uphill battle to learn how to walk again. But that’s exactly what she did, because she never gave up her belief that she could accomplish the goals she set for herself.

And not only did she get back on her feet; she went on to become the first female executive director of the New York Times.

To help you hold on to your goals when times are tough, here are three “ounces” of advice:

The first is to pounce. You’ve got to keep learning and takings risks. Don’t worry about looking dumb or falling on your face. It’s far more important to stay curious and always be asking questions.

The second is to trounce. Keep practicing and developing your skills no matter how many times you fail. It’s not about reaching perfection, it’s about continuing to grow and knowing that sooner or later your continual practice will pay off.

The third is to announce. Share both your goals and difficulties with your peers. This will keep you focused on reaching those goals as well as on improving yourself. After all, it’s easy to let a goal slip away if you’re the only one who knows about it, so improve your chances of following through by letting the world know what you’re aiming for.

It’s common for people to have anxieties about an unpredictable future, but when you take the right steps toward becoming aware and prepared, you can rest easy.

One thing’s for sure: Whatever career path you are currently on will change within your lifetime.

Everything about the traditional workday is changing. The hours are becoming more flexible just as companies are becoming less tied down to physical locations. Even universities are responding to the constant changes by regularly updating their programs to match emerging fields.

Indeed, both universities and corporations know how important it is for adults to keep learning new skills.

Georgia Tech, Udacity and AT&T, in an effort to keep the US workforce up to date and competitive, have pooled their resources to create a relatively accessible master’s degree program in computer science that only costs $7,000.

Workplace hierarchies are flattening out these days, so it’ll also be to your advantage if you can show employers that you come with your own leadership skills and the ability to turn visions into reality. Ideally, this should also include a strong capacity to collaborate and work with social media.

But being prepared for the future requires non-technical skills as well.

You shouldn’t underestimate emotional intelligence as a key part of your continued development, which means learning how to accurately understand and respond to the emotions of others.

After all, it’s not just the economy that’s changing; people are changing, too. Lady Gaga recognized this a few years ago. In 2012, she launched the Born This Way Foundation to promote emotional intelligence, well-being and kindness in schools.

So if you really want to secure your place in tomorrow’s workforce, develop a sharp emotional intelligence. It will allow you to explain how your personality complements your skills, making you an indispensable asset for any company.

The key message in this book:

In order to stay competitive in the future, you have to keep learning today. So stay current and observe the changes going on around you. With the right perspective, you can stay ahead of the curve while simultaneously collecting contacts, experiences and furthering your education. With this foresight, you’ll be in a good position no matter what lays ahead.

Actionable advice:

Become helpful instead of doleful.

If you don’t feel like you’re being useful at your workplace, don’t just sit there being depressed. Find at least one thing that you can do to make someone’s life a little easier at work. If you’re not sure how to do that, observe your coworkers with genuine interest and curiosity. This will help you develop empathy, grow your network and gain new inspiration for ways in which you can be more engaged and happy at work.